Region & History

In Brno, according to tradition, beer has been brewed on the same spot since 1325. That year, in Staré Brno (Old Brno), the Cistercian convent of Queen Elisabeth Richeza was founded, and with it a monastery brewery. At the neighboring Augustinian monastery, Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, later worked. Today a museum stands there.

The cloister's beer grew into an industrial enterprise. In 1872, the firm Mandel a Hayek began building a new brewery on V hlinkách street, out of which Starobrno later emerged. It is regarded as the largest brewery in Moravia and today belongs to the Heineken group.

Znojmo tells a different story. The town is credited with brewing rights as early as 1278 under King Rudolf I, with guild records dating from 1446 and the city brewery from 1720. Its beer was called Hostan. In 2003 Heineken bought the brewery and moved production to Brno; in 2009 the plant was closed. In 2010 the town reclaimed the site, and since 2015 the Znojemský městský pivovar has been brewing there again.

Both towns hold an EU seal for this. Znojemské pivo was registered as a protected geographical indication (PGI) on 6 May 2009, and Brněnské pivo and Starobrněnské pivo on 24 July 2009. A PGI ties a beer to its region without requiring every ingredient to come from there.

The fact that Brno and Znojmo still see themselves as rivals today has much to do with this history. One city stands for a large corporate operation, among the biggest in the country; the other for a small, town-run brewery that started up again after years of silence. Roughly a hundred kilometers separate the two, and along that stretch the mood shifts from big-city pub to wine cellar.